11.1.4 An Identity with Sharp Boundaries

Fourth, there are sharp boundaries separating the religious identity from all others (Marty and Appleby, 1995: 408). Non-members are described by such terms as apostates (i.e., those who have fallen from, and betrayed, the true faith); unbelievers or infidels (i.e., those who never belonged to the religious identity and are alien or hostile to it); and more generally as lost, unredeemed, walking in darkness, etc. To live in a society dominated by non-members is, for the fundamentalist, to swim in polluted waters, in constant danger of exposure to anti-godly social currents.